They were just one year removed from a world series going into '08 and had just acquired Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. Panic galore at WSI! Same ****, different day. A team w/the 7th best record in the AL sneaking into the world series is not very impressive; sorry, but I'm not worried by the signing of a 38 year old who in my opinion will be very average. I personally would have stuck w/Delmon Young, given their ages and the breakout potential of Young versus the inevitable decline of Hunter.

Also, gauging a player's value strictly by what they did last season, especially at age 37, is asinine. Dombrowski should know better, but hey! what the ****, it's not his money. My guess is Dirks or Boesch will platoon w/Hunter by June 1st. His .313 last season means nothing, it was his last hurrah, an outlier. I'm just relieved that we didn't sign him.

Ok, Hunter's last four seasons:

.873 OPS
.819 OPS
.765 OPS
.817 OPS

Young's last four seasons:

.733 OPS
.826 OPS
.695 OPS
.707 OPS

I'm not saying it is the greatest signing in the world nor am I panicing that this move puts Detroit out of reach, but you are simply just guessing Hunter is going to fall off dramatically next season. Judging from the last FOUR seasons, it looks like the Tigers improved offensively and defensively in LF.